IRS Digital Dispatch Sept. 24, 2004
In this Issue: 1. IRS Grants Tax Relief for Hurricane Ivan Victims 2. Schedule C-EZ Change Means Savings for Small Businesses 3. Recent Technical Guidance * * * * * 1. IRS Grants Tax Relief for Hurricane Ivan Victims The Internal Revenue Service has announced special tax relief for taxpayers in the Presidential Disaster Areas of four Gulf Coast states struck by Hurricane Ivan � Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. These taxpayers generally will have until Dec. 30 to file tax returns and submit tax payments. The IRS will abate interest and any late filing or late payment penalties that would apply. This relief includes the Sept. 15th due date for estimated taxes and for calendar-year corporate returns with automatic extensions. See: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=129533,00.html 2. Schedule C-EZ Change Means Savings for Small Businesses The Internal Revenue Service will expand the number of small businesses eligible to file a simplified expense form for Tax Year 2005 returns filed in 2006. The IRS will double the business expense threshold to $5,000 from $2,500 for filing the Form 1040, Schedule C-EZ. The change will mean a savings of 5 million hours of paperwork burden for small business taxpayers. Approximately 500,000 more small businesses � a 15 percent increase � will be able to file the Schedule C-EZ. See: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=129561,00.html 3. Recent Technical Guidance: Notice 2004-64, regarding recent amendments to IRC 501(c)(15), advises taxpayers that the IRS will continue to scrutinize the eligibility of certain property and casualty insurance companies for tax-exempt status. See: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-04-64.pdf Notice 2004-65 removes transactions described in Notice 2002-70 from the list of listed transactions. The IRS will continue to scrutinize such transactions when used to shift income to related companies purporting to be insurance companies. See: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-04-65.pdf Notice 2004-67 provides an updated list of listed transactions. See: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-04-67.pdf * * * * * --- If you know someone who might want to subscribe to this mailing list, please forward this message to them and they can send a blank e-mail to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] in order to subscribe. --- This message was distributed automatically from the mailing list digitaldispatch. PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE. To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] --- To subscribe to or unsubscribe from another list, please go to http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/index.html and click on 'e-News Subscriptions'.
